InforME Board Meeting
November 13, 2002
Board Attendance:
Secretary of State Dan Gwadosky
Anne Schink
Marilyn Lutz
Dick Hinkley
Dick Davies
Rick Record
Elaine Stanley (Gary Nichols)
Jaynie Higgins
Jeff Harmon
Deb Carson
Tamara Dukes
Carrie Gott
Others Present:
Becky Wyke, Chief Deputy, Office of Secretary of State
Don Kleiner, Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife
Todd Tolurst, InforME
Tiffany Glidden, InforME
Renee Loring, InforME
Meeting Opens
I. Review of General Manager’s Report:
Carrie Gott reviews General Manager’s Report:
Announcements-
1. The BOW award presentation was attended by Maine Chief Information Officer,
Harry Lanphear, New England Interactive, President, Tamara Dukes, and InforME
Graphic Artist, Jari Feldt. A framed BOW award for eGovernment initiatives and
achievements was presented to Secretary of State Dan Gwadosky.
2. An update on Joan Gammon was given to the Board stating that Joan was back in the RI.gov as of yesterday, working part-time, until after Thanksgiving. Joan is very excited to be back!
Marketing Overview-
Press Releases/Articles:
Positive media coverage on the Portal was received within the past two months.
The InforME Winter Photo Contest press release was covered in the Kennebec Journal
in October. The Portal continues to promote the photo contest through Maine.gov.
Other photo contest coverage included a live interview with Kelly Hokkenan through
NewsinMaine.com. The popularity of the Portal’s Photo Contest can be seen
by the submissions: 134 Fall entries and so far, over 100 for Winter.
Renee Loring assisted the CIO’s Office in writing an AutoForms article to be published in the November MIST newsletter. 19 agencies have since contacted InforME for FTP account set-ups to use the AutoForms tool.
NIC, New England Interactive’s parent company, has worked hard to promote winners of the BOW by creating an ad of state partners and placing it in various publications such as Government Technology and Governing magazines. The NIC ad was shown to the Board.
Conferences:
All InforME marketing staff attended the NIC marketing conference in October
in Tennessee. The marketing staff received a tremendous overview of eGovernment.
The InforME staff agreed that the conference was valuable. Cathilea Robinett,
Executive Director of the Center for Digital Government, spoke at conference.
Cathilea’s presentation included eGov trends that were on the rise such
as: a centralized homeland security source, live help services, and the importance
of consistency across the portal for usability. Cathilea also advised the audience
to keep building egov services and that driving adoption of existing services
is the key to a successful State portal.
Recognition:
Maine placed 16th overall in the Center for Digital Government’s (in conjunction
with Government Technology magazine) Digital State Survey. The survey looks
beyond the portal into all State Agencies. Maine tied for first place in part
three of the 2002 Digital State survey in the area of Taxation and Revenue.
Rapid Renewal Update:
3 new lives towns: Caswell, Patten and Limestone, and several more in testing.
Other:
PayTixx continues to be a great service: adoption rate up to 7%.
In discussion with City of Bangor to offer parking tickets.
Branding:
Maine.gov branding for the past two months has been done primarily through the
Board by distributing Maine.gov static cling stickers:
· Anne Schink distributed through Americorps
· Gary Nichols distributed through State Librarians conference around
the country.
· Jeff Harmon facilitated State Police initiative to attach Maine.gov
static cling stickers to state police cars.
Dick Hinkley announced that BIS is getting ready to turn on Maine.gov as state email address. BIS is in the process of alerting all state employees of the change. The change could possibly be implemented in December. Dick stated that the change to Maine.gov will be 99% transparent internally and with the assistance of the CIO’s Office, will strategize a way to fashion the same alert to users outside of the State.
Creative Services Update-
The creative team has put together several mock-up websites for the new Governor to consider. They have also been busy providing input for other promotional items.
II. Follow-up from Last Meeting:
Letter from the InforME Board regarding rabies verification for online dog license
renewal was finalized by the Board and will be sent to the Department of Agriculture.
Discussion:
The “transaction” security language needs to be added to security
policy before making it available from Maine.gov
Action:
InforME will make change and share policies with ISPB when finalized.
III. Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Service Level Agreement
(IF&W SLA) Schedule B:
Don Kleiner gave overview of services and the benefits of an online Turkey and
Moose Permit application. The current online Any Deer Permit application (which
is free) currently boasts a 25% adoption rate (grown since initial 7% adoption).
IF&W is hoping for a similar adoption rate for the online Turkey Lottery
service.
Turkey Permit Lottery
26,000 applicants for turkey permit lottery were received by the Department
last year. The current process requires the applicant to fill out the form,
mail back with check by receipt mail. The online system will streamline this
process for both the IF&W staff and customer. IF&W will make a significant
effort to promote this service.
Schedule B recommends that the Portal share for Turkey Permits be set at $1.50/transaction.
Discussion:
The Board questioned whether the online process would be used internally by
IF&W staff for processing applications. The Board also questioned if the
winners were notified. Both responses were affirmative and also added that the
winners would be posted online. Another member asked if applicants were reimbursed
if they are not selected for a permit. The answer is no, the fee is tied to
the application.
Action:
InforME Board requested that InforME change the wording on the first page of
the Moose lottery application to reflect that if they are selected then they
will be charged an additional fee for the permit.
Moose Permit
85,000 applicants for moose permits were received last year. The online service
will be marketed nationwide with ads in Field and Stream to drive participation.
IF&W will also be sending out a massive email to the IF&W listserv which
will promote the online lottery service to the 25,000 applicants that participated
in this year’s online Any Deer Permit application. 2,500 permits will
be issued this year. Moose Permit applicants may only apply once but they can
purchase more drawing chances. IF&W takes in about 1.2 million dollars per
year for permits.
Schedule B recommends that the Portal share for Moose Permits be set at $1.00/transaction.
Discussion:
The Board asked that the confirmation numbers be made more apparent to the user.
Action:
Board unanimously approves fees for Schedule B of the IF&W SLA.
IV. Department of Public Safety Service Level Agreement (DPS SLA):
The SLA for the Department of Public Safety for the online Public Criminal Records
service was tabled from October’s Board meeting due to further clarification
of the authority of DPS to charge fees.
Lt. Jeffery Harmon, Chief of the Maine State Police provided handouts to the Board and reviewed the statute that relates to this concern:
Lt. Harmon pointed out that DPS is authorized by the Appropriations Committee, when appropriate, to collect a fee for records. History was given of the appropriations process for providing criminal history records.
Discussion:
Nine other states offer online access to public criminal records, five of which
are NIC states and many more are in the process. Most offer request form online
but not the actual transmission through the portal. Indiana has seen a 14% adoption
in first year.
How will it be promoted? Most requesters are returning customers who will be informed of the new service via a direct mail campaign. InforME has already received many calls from interested customers who will be notified when service launches.
Discussion:
Terminology of criminal vs. non-criminal checks was explained and highlighted.
The title of the application, though accurate, is confusing. Simpler language
was suggested and will be implemented on the website.
Conviction data may be compiled for any person for any reason if the unique identifiers match the person requested.
There were some issues with disclaimers in the statutes that required further explanation.
Courts will also benefit from the service, thus reducing clerk back log on record look-up.
The Board raised a concern that defining language indicating that fees are charged to non-government entities is not specifically stated in the statute.
Decision:
The Board and InforME will be comfortable approving the SLA based on the following
stipulations:
Ø The agency will work toward changing the state law to include definition
of “individual” during the next legislative session, or;
Ø Lt. Harmon will ask the Attorney General for a formal opinion on issue.
Action:
Board votes unanimously to accept PCR service based upon conditions stated above.
V. Demos:
Tiffany Glidden presented demos of two new sites/services developed by InforME:
§ Public Criminal Records-electronic access to request criminal history
record information.
§ Turkey Lottery Permit: online application of Maine Wild Turkey Lottery.
Next Meeting:
January 15, 2003 at 1:00 p.m. in the Nash School Building
Meeting adjourned at 3:35 p.m.